I hear the hazy waves on a solemn summer shore
It’s all so quiet now – no sign of the storm
Sand surrounding me – I’m pulled down with the tide
I fall in the sea and sink through my mind

Churning
Turning
Slurring swells whir in my ear
Drifting
Shifting
Then in an instant disappear

Scenes like grains of sand
Sifting through my hand
In and out of focus these
Images coalesce and -

I’m not sure if this is real
Can I trust what I touch and feel?
Is everything I hear and all that I’ve seen
A dream within a dream?

Sleeping again
Time seems to leave me
Seeking a meaning
I spiral endlessly

Whirling through a blur of mismatched episodes
Hurling in infinite space – through worlds within worlds

Twisting
Resisting
I can’t lift my eyes to the present or past
Gasping
Clasping
The future slips right through my grasp

Scenes like grains of sand
Sifting through my hand
In and out of focus these
Images coalesce and

As I tumble through
Each reality
Every place I see
Draws me deeper, still –

I’m not sure if this is real
Can I trust what I touch and feel?
Is everything I hear and all that I’ve seen
A dream within a dream?

Come up for air
My body is so light here
I feel myself grow
A breath in a sphere

There’s a wind that flies inside my head
High above the haze
Where shifting dreams and memories
Slowly take shape

Now it’s time to change my life
Embrace uncertainty
Embrace the dream
That lives in me

Now I know that this is real
I create what I touch and feel
Everything I hear and all that I’ve seen –
I’m the dream within a dream


Lyrics submitted by Octavarium64

Dream Within a Dream song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

0 Comments

sort form View by:
  • No Comments

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Blue
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.